Although the activity that you are about to do is based on a fragment of the work of Sappho, a Greek poet of the 7th-6th century BC, we will begin by briefly explaining who Hector and Andromache were.

Hector already appears in the first songs of the Iliad. Together with his wife Andromache, they are the protagonists of song VI. Before facing Achilles, Hector returns to Troy to say goodbye to his wife. He knows that he is going to die for his country, but, before going to battle, he confesses that he is very worried about the future that awaits his wife Andromache if he loses the war, since they will force her to be a slave and she will lose his dignity. Also in this song, he predicts that his son, Astyanax, will be much braver than him.

Read this fragment of a poem by Sappho and respond to the proposed activities:

Cyprus [

The herald came [

Idaios the swift messenger

[ ]

“... and all the rest of Asia [ ] undying glory.

Hektor and his companions escort a dartingeyed

woman from sacred Thebe and fair Plakia’s streams,

delicate Andromache, aboard their ship

on the salt sea, and with her many golden bracelets

and scented purple robes and intricate adornments,

silver goblets past numbering and ivory.”

So he said. His father leapt up eagerly

and word went to his friends throughout the spacious city.

The sons of Ilus led out mules and harnessed them

to fairwheeled carriages and all the crowd of women

and girls with slender ankles climbed on board [

and Priam’s daughters separately [

And all the young unmarried men led out their stallions

and harnessed them to chariots, spirited [

] charioteers [

[ several verses missing ]

] like the very gods

] pure[

]toward Ilion,

the sweetvoiced flute and kithara were mingling,

the clash of castanets, and girls’ clear voices singing

a holy song. The sound rang out and reached the sky

] wonderfully, lau[

Everywhere through the streets [

wine bowls and cups [

and myrrh and cassia and frankincense were mingling.

The women who were older raised a joyful cry

and all the men sang out on high, a lovely song

calling on Paian, the Farshooter, skilled with the lyre,

in praise of godlike Hektor and Andromache.

Sappho. 44, LP

The Poetry of Sappho. Translation and Notes by Jim Powell (2007). Oxford University Press (retrevied on 07/06/2023) <http://www.projethomere.com/ressources/Sappho/Poetry-of-Sappho.pdf>

Answer the following questions:

a- What city is she referring to when she quotes Ilium?

b- Place on the map of ancient Greece: Thebes, Placia and Ilion.

c- Look at the map of Greece and name the seas, archipelagos, and straits that you recognize.

d- What were these products used for in ancient Greece: sandalwood, incense, and myrrh?

e- Explain what Andromache's attitude is towards her husband. Do you think that in today's society there would be room for this attitude of devotion towards the husband?